Boston, you need some good news. So consider these two prize points: David Krejci is back in the Bruins lineup and Thursday was the B's best game in some time.
Now avert your eyes for 10 seconds. The Bruins head into the weekend out of the Stanley Cup playoffs' Eastern Conference field after Thursday's 3-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. And they have lost their past six games.
MORE: Stanley Cup playoff field update | Sabres fans are tank-ful | Jaromir Jagr's Panthers impact
The eye-opening item emerging from Boston involves Krejci, who missed the previous 15 games with a bum knee. One winger doesn't make a team — "We shouldn't expect him to be our savior," coach Claude Julien told The Boston Herald before the game — but Krejci is key contributor.
While Krejci was out, the Bruins' offense suffered. He had seven goals and 19 assists in 38 games before his injury, and he added two assists on power-play goals against the Ducks.
He might not be the gin or vodka in the Bruins' martini, but Krejci completes the mix. For now, look for him on right wing rather than center. Having him with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchant can be intoxicating.
MORE: Games and results | Updated standings | Must-see video highlights
That's where the second positive appears, according to Herald hockey scribe Stephen Harris. Combining the Bruins' key ingredients should bring results, a sampling of which showed Thursday. Blue-collar hockey, Harris called it, and that's how the B's must sting.
Thanks in part to Krejci's assists, the Bruins have power-play goals in four consecutive games, a season first. And as NESN.com noted, improvement on the power play is encouraging (not to mention critical).
There remains the little matter of ending a six-game losing streak. To do that, they need better play at even strength, NESN's Nicholas Goss noted.
Here comes another downer: The Bruins, CSNNE's Joe Haggerty reported, found another disheartening way to lose. How? They failed to hold a one-goal lead by giving up Corey Perry's goal with 38.5 seconds to play. Then came Ryan Getzlaf's overtime goal.
Goalie Tuukka Rask called it a "terrible, terrible feeling."
Julien can't help but hear the debate about whether he should be fired. And he can't help feel slighted because Perry and the Ducks' Matt Beleskey made, on-ice officials said, "incidental contact" with Rask on the tying goal.
Now the Bruins must make their charge. They have eight games left, starting with Saturday's matinee against the New York Rangers.
Otherwise, they'll be drinking martinis on the golf course in late April.